Lebas Shakhsi

---

Lebas Shakhsi

Lebas Shakhsi (la-bas-shak-si, لباس شخصی, translated “Men Without Uniforms” or “Plainclothes Men”), is an informal group of social and political enforcers in the Islamic Republic of Iran closely affiliated with the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran and the IRGC. It is sometimes referred to as a “Parallel Intelligence Apparatus” (Nahadhayih ittia’tiyih muyazi) which operates “off the books.” The members of Lebas Shakhsi are generally viewed as hooligans, thugs, and ruffians used to instill fear. Although they are often members of the Basij and appear to be highly organized, the Lebas Shakhsi is not an officially acknowledged organization. When other forms of social suppression (administrative hurdles or criminal charges) do not deter activists, the Lebas Shakhsi is waiting in the wings to violently suppress anyone that is perceived to oppose fundamentalist positions. Sadegh Saba, head of BBC Persian Television, observed that “whenever there is a pro-democracy community, members of this seemingly clandestine organization are brought to the scene,” to violently suppress opposing viewpoints or to intimidate.

File:Lebash Shakhsi (Courtesy of Negaam News).jpg

Figure 1: Lebas Shakhsi detaining man in street while a woman steps in to protect the prostrate man (Copyright Negaam News)

Organization

Even more pointedly, Mohsen Sazegara, one of the founding members of the IRGC, maintains that: “The men without uniforms are a special brigade under the supervision of the IRGC Intelligence Unit, trained to flail people; the same group of people who have turned up on motorcycles or on foot, attacked people and beat them up, often knifing them, sometimes carrying iron bars, today carrying guns, whenever there was a protest over all these years. A group nobody accepts any responsibility for; even the state itself does not acknowledge any affiliation with them, and only indirectly accepts responsibility for their actions. But the truth is that these men without uniforms have been Mr. Khamenei’s suppression machine over the past 12 years.”

From the official perspective, the Lebas Shakhsi does not exist; however, there is acknowledgement that “arbitrary groups” who are sympathetic to the regime, sometimes feel ‘compelled to defend Islamic values.’ These attacks are euphemistically called “sympathetic interventions.” In discussing the exceedingly violent attacks on students at the University of Tehran in 1999, Mohammad Ali Purmokhtar (Chairman of the Article 90 Commission in Parliament) observed that the attackers were “sympathetic forces who were witnessing that some measures were taking place against Islamic values, so they felt they had to step in.”

The Lebas Shakshsi members are iconographic: bearded men in untucked shirts who are generally perceived to be uneducated members of the Basij with a propensity for violence and religious fanaticism. They are easily whipped into a frenzy by “eulogists” who have been specifically selected for that purpose [see Strategy and Leadership]. That they operate outside the law is without question.

File:Lebas Shakhsi (Courtesy of Sadouzami).jpg

Figure 2: Riot and Lebas Shakhsi detain a man during clashes with supporters of Iran’s opposition leader, Mirhossein Mousavi (Photograph: Reuters)

Although the Lebas Shakhsi is not officially claimed or acknowledged, its existence is well documented through those witnesses and victims that survive. Iranian human-rights attorney and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi documented the story of the Iranian Revolution in her nonfiction work The Golden Cage. Within the text are vivid references to the atrocities of the Lebas Shakhsi:

“As if obeying a silent order, the goruh-e feshar lifted chains and knives into the air. They prepared to attack. Then there was only silence and the dense odor of our fear. They launched their attack on the outermost circle. The crowd scattered. The women ran off in every direction. The few men among us were immediately seized by the lebas-shakhsi— government agents in civilian dress. They beat their backs with clubs, growling, "This should finally put an end to your traitorous demonstrations. Your children don't deserve any memorials. They were enemies of Allah and of Iran. You should have thought about that when you still had time. You should have taught them proper values. It's your fault they're dead!" The lebas-shakhsi dragged off their semi-conscious victims, staining the sand with thin streams of blood. Gray-haired women were sprawled all over the ground.”

Strategy/Leadership

The Lebas Shakhsi operates at the behest of the Supreme Leader although strategic control of the organization is thought to lie with the Supreme Leader’s son, Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei. Operationally, the commander of the Lebas Shakhsi is Mohammad Reza Naqdi who is also the commander of the Basij Mobilization Resistance Force. There are five publically known eulogists who are responsible for whipping the Lebas Shakhsi into a religious frenzy before they attack their citizens. These “eulogists” share radical Islamic views and have been selected because of their ability to deliver invigorating speeches that can stir simple men to kill without thinking.

History

During Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in the 1920s and 30s, the Nazis created a paramilitary group called Sturmabteilung or Storm Detachment. Its main functions were disrupting meetings of opposing voices and intimidating citizens and organizations. The people of Germany simply referred to them as Brownshirts—similar to the Blackshirts of Fascist Italy. Following their creation in 1919, the Brownshirts were primarily a collection of uneducated Nazi fanatics with a propensity toward violence and who enjoyed brawling and pillaging with almost complete immunity. It is in this vein that we find the Iranian Lebas Shakhsi.

Over the years, the Lebas Shakhsi has operated under various names, including Ansar e-Hezbollah (Friends of the Party of God), of which it is probably an off-shoot. During the reign of President Mohammad Khatami (1997 - 2005), it was also known as Goroh Feshar (the Pressure Group). When reformists seem to be gaining the upper hand, the Lebas Shakhsi is more active in their violent interventions. When Islamic fundamentalist are in power, the Lebas Shakhsi tends to fade from view and from the public mindset. Consequently, there is a perception that it fades in and out of existence. In reality, it is fading in and out of the public eye depending upon the conservative’s need to suppress reformist thought.

Foreign Policies

Members of Iranian forces run during an attack on the Iranian parliament in central Tehran, Iran, June 7, 2017. Tasnim News Agency Handout via Reuters

The Lebas Shakhsi has also been incited to affect the success of specific foreign policies. For example, on 29 November 2011 the Lebas Shakhsi was involved in an attack on the British Embassy in Tehran. The British government had imposed numerous sanctions on Iran, all concerning the nature of Iran’s nuclear program—Iran’s response resulted in downgraded ties between the two countries. The informal network of the Lebas Shakhsi incited over 1,000 protesters to gather at the British Embassy and Gholhak Garden, another diplomatic compound, in Tehran. Foreign Secretary William Hague stated:

“Iran is a country where Opposition leaders are under house arrest, more than 500 people have been executed so far this year and where genuine protest is ruthlessly stamped on. The idea that the Iranian authorities could not have protected our Embassy or that this assault could have taken place without some degree of regime consent is fanciful.”

Over the years, the Lebas Shakhsi have instigated several other attacks on foreign embassies under the guise of a “public protest.” These include an attack on the Saudi Embassy in 2016; an attack on the UK Embassy in 2011; an attack on the Pakistan Embassy in 2010; an attack on the Embassy of Denmark in 2006; an attack on the Kuwaiti Embassy in 1987; and an attack on the Soviet Embassy in 1988.

Lebas Shakhsi

This article "Lebas Shakhsi" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Lebas Shakhsi. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---